Dr. Abiba Zakariah holds a Doctorate in Management from the Swiss Management Centre, Geneva, Switzerland, and a Master’s in Marketing from the University of Ghana, Legon.

She is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of the United Kingdom (FCII-UK) and the Chartered Insurance Institute Ghana (CIIG). She is a Fellow of the Chartered Insurance Institute of the United Kingdom (FCIIG-UK), a member of the Institute of Risk Management Professionals Ghana, a Chartered Marketer and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Marketing Ghana (CIMG). She holds a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) degree and is an ordained Pastor of the Assemblies of God Church, Ghana. Additionally, Dr. Zakariah has studied numerous international courses to enhance her expertise.
Career path
Dr. Abiba Zakariah has over 30 years working experience and has served on several Committees in the marketing and insurance industry. She has held several high-ranking positions, including serving as the Group Chief Operations Officer of TG Holding Ltd until 2019.
Having started her career as an Insurance Marketing Officer of the then-State Insurance Corporation, now SIC Insurance PLC, she later joined Ghana Reinsurance Company Ltd, where she rose to become the Managing Director. She later moved on to become the Group Chief Operating Officer of WAICA Reinsurance Company until her appointment by His Excellency the President of the Republic of Ghana, John Dramani Mahama, as the Commissioner of Insurance (ag.).

Contribution to the industry and Academia
Dr. Zakariah is a highly respected personality within the insurance space in both Ghana and Africa. She speaks on thought-provoking insurance-related topics, often on contemporary developments within the industry. She has served on several industry Committees locally and internationally. Her contributions as a Member of the Agricultural Insurance Pool Steering and Technical Committees, the “No Premium No Cover” Committee, and the Reinsurance Committee are immeasurable. She previously chaired the Ghana Oil and Gas Insurance Board. She served on the boards of Ghana Reinsurance, Hollard Insurance Ghana, Priority Insurance Company, Unique Life, CDH Group of Companies Ltd, and the Ghana Agricultural Insurance Pool, among others. Her leadership extended beyond Ghana, as she was appointed the Chairperson of the Sierra Leone Insurance Industry Developmental Plan and contributed to various committees. Dr. Zakariah also founded the Chartered Insurance Ladies Association of Ghana (CILAG) in 2015 and became the Association’s first President.

Dr. Zakariah has also contributed significantly to academia as a visiting lecturer at the West African Insurance Institute (WAII) and as a resource person at institutions such as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ghana Insurance College (GIC).

Boards
Dr. Abiba Zakariah was the Chairperson of the Boards of SAHA Global and NSIA Ghana Company. She also chaired the Ghana Oil and Gas Board and served on the following Boards: Ghana Reinsurance, Hollard Insurance Ghana, Priority Insurance Company, Unique Life, and CDH Group of Companies Ltd.

Motivational Speaker
As a motivational speaker, she has delivered presentations on several platforms, including the University of Ghana, Legon, and the SOS Hermann Gmeiner College in Ghana. She also founded SilentScream, an NGO for mental health advocacy.

Plans for the Insurance Industry
Dr Abiba Zakariah has outlined three (3) pillars on which to redirect the regulation and practice of the business of insurance:
* Sanitizing the Insurance Market;
* Growing the Insurance Market through Technology and inclusive Insurance
* Positioning Ghana’s Insurance Market Internationally
The objective is to position the industry to improve the insurance penetration rate and its contribution to the country’s GDP, which is just about 1%. Dr Zakariah is convinced these pillars would change the game exponentially for the growth of the industry, where all stakeholders, including consumers such as organised groups, would be part of the product development, distribution, pricing, and promotion decision-making process, not just as consumers of insurance products and services.

Awards
Her outstanding contributions to the insurance industry and leadership have earned her several prestigious awards, including an awardee of the Youth in Insurance Profession (YIP) in 2024, being named one of the Professional Insurance Ladies Association’s (PILA) Top 50 Women in Insurance in Africa (2022), Business Insurance Women to Watch in Europe, Middle East and African (EMEA) in 2019, and a recipient of the Northern Youth for Peace and Development Award in Ghana (2017).

Interests
In her spare time, she likes to write and read, apart from preaching the word of God